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We Have Right Of Way Through Neighbours Garden

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phleb | 15:53 Sun 20th Oct 2013 | Law
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They have now bought a dog which stops me from going through with my bins. Its getting pretty stressfull for me now because the dog is constantly barking and scares me and is exactly near the gate which I have right to use. Where do I stand? They also have created steps now which make it difficult for me to drag up a full bin!
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just talk to them, and ask them when the dog is going to be inside so that you can go thru with the bins (or just ask them to put the dog inside at 5pm on a thurdsday or whatever day/time it suits). you say in your q "we", so if you are frightened why can't the other part of the "we" do it?
It would be a pretty poor husband who made his 5 month pregnant wife carry the full bins through someone elses garden
If you have 'right of way' they can not stop or impede you from using it.
Have a word and mention that you have a right of way and need to use it. the dog and the steps should not be there. You have the right to use the 'right of way' at any time as often as you like, not just to take the bins out so you need to tell them that the steps and the dog have to go. Best to do this amicably if at all possible but the neighbor is committing an offence by impeding your right of way.
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Thank you Eddie I thought that too but was a bit unsure. Bednobs I dont see why I have to arrange a time to use my right of way It should be accesable at any time. My oh takes the bins out at most times and he also struggles to pull them up the steps.
it is accessible though, it's not like they have put a locked gate up, it's just that you don't fancy going past the dog or going up steps - i can't see how you can stop them having a dog just because you have a ROW
If you own your home or are buying it and can gain access to the house deeds they will tell you exactly what access you have to the neighbour's property and when you can use it.
Make or obtain an exact copy of the relevant section of the deeds as it may come in handy if your word is doubted in any way.
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Bednobs if you dont have anything helpful to say then please dont comnent. It is not accesable because the dog is loose or tied up nr this gate and no I do not fancy going past the dog as im sure u wouldnt too its a german shepard, a mean looking one at that. The steps are a hindrance, they knew we went through with the bins so to make things difficult they made steps. I have let them get away with stuff for far too long so now its about time I stood up.
bednobs, sorry but you do not seem to understand the situation. I used to live in such a house and my son still does.
Normally there is a path past the back doors of the houses , this path is a 'right of way' for access to the rear of the houses. Where I lived a 6 house terrace shared a path around the back , you could get into it via the first or last house in the terrace and walk around the back of the block past the back doors of the individual houses. In fact just like a footpath that goes past the front of the houses but at the back.
This was normal for estate houses built in the 1940s to 60s but is rare now. Space to put the bins was inevitably at the rear of the house so to 'put out the bins' means taking them around the rear right of way path and onto the street.
( Mine you back in the 50s the binmen would come round the back of the houses along the 'right of way 'collect the bins , empty them then return them )
The back gardens of the house were beyond the foot path , there was a lot less emphasis on 'privacy' then, anyone could see what you had in your back garden as they had a right to walk past between the back garden and the house.
sorry that you are not finding my comments helpful. I am just putting myself in your neighbour's shoes. If a neighbour having ROW through your garden means you can't have pets, it seems really sad. What if you were frightened of rabbits? Would you tell them they couldn't have one? what if you were in a wheelchair? Would you insist they made their garden wheelchair accessible because you have ROW?
All i am saying is talk to them. Instead of insisting they get rid of their family pet (!), and change the layout of their garden because "you have the right" and want to take your bins through once (?) a week, why not find a middle way, and get them to take the dog indoors when you want to go through?
If you are already not particularly good neighbours, then insisting they get rid of their dog is not the way forward!
google public right of way + dogs

What about farm dogs that appear to be threatening?
Farm dogs must also be kept under control. Allowing farm dogs loose to behave aggressively in a farm yard through which a public right of way runs, is not desirable – especially if the dog (or dogs) have a record of aggressive behaviour, as this could constitute an obstruction of the highway under s137 of the Highways Act 1980. It may also put the public at risk and so could constitute a common law nuisance.


I cant believe that dog+ rt of way has not been litigated at some time in the last thousand years
it's not really a public row though peter?
phleb,
I understand the situation, the neighbor can no more obstruct or block the rear access path any more than then can block the pavement in front of the house, it is a footpath with free access to all but at the back of the houses rather than in front.
As said, this situation is virtually unknown in modern housing but was very common to houses built in the 1920s to 60s, there are still many thousands of houses with this arrangement.
Phleb, maybe you should have a word and say that you are frightened of the dog. Maybe you could come to an arrangement where they take your bin across their garden for you.
yeah it is public BN -
anyone can use it for access so ... public.
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All our houses have a right of way for all the residents that own these properties. Im not saying they should get rid of the dog, I just think they should tie it up away from the access route, we have ginormous gardens so I cant see why not! As for steps, now they are there I wont make an issue, but will mention the problems they cause. The built an extension but didnt sort guttering so water whooshs onto my patio when it rains, I told them a few times and nothing has been done whilst building the broke the lovely fence I had and replaced it after several requests by me with cheap thin panels which didnt last a year in the wind.
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Its been one thing after another and the gate is off its hinges unsafe and my kids play in my garden with that dog constantly barking at them
so how come the dog doesn't come into your garden?
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Peter, I agree, this is meant to be accessible to us and our families or guests that visit so public it is.
bednobs My son who lives in a house with rear right of way has 2 dogs.
He has a fenced area in the 'private' part of his back garden past the rear footpath where the dogs are allowed to play. Putting them out on the rear footpath area would be just like putting them out on the street. The neighbors both sides of him have dogs as well and none of them allow the dogs to be free in the access area, they have fenced enclosures in the rest of the garden. It is the normal thing to those of us who live or have lived in the situation.
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Because they tie it up and when its loose they tie the fence with this stupid rope which again is a pain to undo and put garden furniture in front again blocking access, I sometimes have to move the objects and untie the rope to get through
Phleb it has to be done by discussion.

The free-holder doesnt like the rt of way
and thinks by being difficult, that in some way, by non use it may be extinguished.

Farmers put an untethered bull with cows in a field (lawful unfortunately) with a rt of way across it
and another used to uproot the finger post on the rt of way in the hope that er people wont use it (rather than trample his field looking for the damn thing)

best done by discussion

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We Have Right Of Way Through Neighbours Garden

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